Cover(s) of the Next Week

I honestly haven't read much Chew beyond the first collection. I love the way this cover for Chew #57 is basically the black of the character's hair quite, with the red of the glasses literally bleeding into the red of the background. Just how much blood can there be?

Another great use of blacks and red by Julian Totino Tedesco on this cover from Witchfinder: City of the Dead #3. Where Guillory's reds drip, Tedesco's weave in and out of this image. It's a neat trick how the red traps the man in the drawing and really draws our eye to into the image.

One of the covers drips. One constricts. Christian Ward's cover to Ody-C #12 bathes the reader in the red.

All three of these comics will be available on October 26, 2016, just in time to give you Halloween nightmares.

Interviews

** “Everything Is An Advert For Everything Else” – Tom Scioli Talks Transformers Vs. GI Joe And Young Animal’s Super Powers (Bleeding Cool)-- Rich Johnson debriefs Tom Scioli about his work on Transformers Vs. GI Joe and then talks a bit about his Super Powers backup that's running in Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye.

Tom Scioli: When it was over there was this sense of ‘why did I end this, this was the best job I’ve ever had!’ but then something such as Super Powers comes along and you realize that this is why I wanted to end it because by working on something totally new all of a sudden you become reinvigorated. If you work on the same thing forever you lose enthusiasm for it. For everyone involved this was the best way to give yourself a break and maybe come back later. You do every crazy Transformers and G.I. Joe related idea you can think of and then it becomes ‘I have to think of a bunch more’ and it’s a lot easier to do that with something totally new.

In this age of comics sort of disappearing into the ether, I kind of selfishly hope that Transformers Vs. GI Joe goes out of print at some point and can become something legendary, sort of like Flex Mentallo or Miracleman were back during the early aughts- kind of a secret comics handshake if you were one of the ones who read and remembered those books.

** Getting Material: A Short Interview with Ben Katchor (The Comics Journal)-- Kevin Huizenga has a short discussion with Ben Katchor. The non-focused ramblings between two cartoonists and educations are broad but it's nice to see both men talk about their dual professions on a craft and technical level.

This and That

Does Freedom of Speech mean anything when authorities see only obscenity? Does an artist’s vision matter when community standards conspire to suppress it? In a small town in Florida back in 1994, Mike Diana learned that the answer was a resounding no. Freedom of Speech doesn’t mean anything when your art is declared obscene. And one man’s art could be another man’s obscenity.

Diana’s crime? Publishing a hand-made comic zine called Boiled Angel full of graphic, outrageous, often hilarious confrontational art, full of sex and violence, meant to shock and disturb. But it was a zine only sold to adults by mail. With a print run of only 300 copies, Diana’s zine was NEVER available in comic racks or in stores. And only one copy – count ‘em, one! – was ever sold to a customer in Diana’s hometown. And that one customer was an undercover cop!

The Mike Diana trial was an interesting event for comics. The legal consequences remain deeply troubling, and it's hard not to flash anger at a judge's order that someone not be able to draw in their home for their own enjoyment. Forget flashing anger; it's hard not to carry that one around with you for days at a time. That's just some scary dystopian sci-fi stuff right there. The Diana troubles in general was also the first time I saw that construction where a lot of people made sure to let everyone know they hated Diana's work every time they wrote about it in public.

"I imagine if HELLBOY: INTO THE SILENT SEA were a movie, the Hollywood hyperbole would describe it as Hellboy's greatest adventure,” said Gary Gianni. “Yes... it's Hellboy as you've never seen him before, laughing , loving and battling his way across the stormy seas! You'll be thrilled as he faces cosmic forces terrorizing a haunted ship manned by a desperate crew! Be sure not to miss HELLBOY: INTO THE SILENT SEA, the biggest comic book event of the year!"

Current Mood

Scott is a recovering English literature major, spending the past 10 years writing about comics. Truthfully, he just doesn't know what to do with his time other than writing about comics. It's a sickness. His old blog is at www.wednesdayshaul.com but he currently blogs and tumbles (is that a verb yet?) at Ilostitatthecomicshop.tumblr.com.